


Negotiation

by miss_aligned



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mass Effect 3, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7666612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_aligned/pseuds/miss_aligned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things get a little heated between Shepard and a vessel of batarian refugees. She has a remarkable ability to 'walk it off.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Negotiation

“Why should we bother listening to you?”

“Believe it or not, I’d prefer if we could settle this peacefully,” Shepard responded, placing her rifle slowly on the ground in front of her to emphasize her intent. Next to her, she could hear Kaidan’s grip on his gun tighten in response. He lowered it regardless, hopefully trusting her judgment. “I came to investigate the recent activities of this group, and rather than blasting you into the next cluster’s orbit, I thought it would be better to give you a chance to do something better with your time.”

“So you want something from us,” a second batarian asked, barely concealing his rage as he stepped up to confront her himself.

“We could use your help. The remaining batarian fleets are moving to help in the war against the Reapers and I think you should join them,” she responded.

“Why do you think we’d do anything to help you?” Another voice rang out from somewhere in the back of the large group. She was outnumbered, certainly, and it had been risky boarding this rogue ship, but she had a feeling she could get through to them. She could give them a purpose to fight well beyond piracy and boredom.

“It’s not helping me. It’s helping you and your people and everyone else in the galaxy. What’s the point of having escaped from your planet or colony alive if you’re just going to pretend to be bandits?”

“Don’t assume you know anything about us or our suffering, human.”

“I can see that there are only a handful of you that have arms training. The ones that do are probably the crew of the ship. I’m guessing that the rest are refugees with other trade talents that happened to be at the right place at the right time in order to escape with their lives. Now you think that you have to prey upon others in similar situations to survive with your homeworld in ruins,” Shepard explained as she cast her gaze over each and every face she could clearly see. It seemed as though there was fear, hopelessness, and anger in their expressions. As bad as her reputation was among their people, precious few of them had guns as far as she could tell. They obviously had numerous other things on their minds.

A long silence passed before anyone responded. Even Shepard was feeling the heat, wondering if she needed to pick up her rifle and make a hasty retreat. Perhaps her gamble wasn’t going to be a success this time around.

“So how do you expect us to help win a war?”

She’d been right. She stifled a sigh of relief that threatened to burst forth from her chest just a moment longer. “Well, your military could use the supplies you’ve managed to pick up. You could facilitate their communications, make repairs to equipment, provide medical care… whatever your skills, your fellow batarians could use them now. We would all benefit from your help, including your families back home. If we wipe out the Reaper threat, we can all go back and rebuild.”

It was difficult to fully read a batarian expression, but Shepard had been watching one in particular out of the corner of her eye. He seemed far more irritated by her presence than the rest, though the stony rigidity of his stance had suggested that he’d control himself for now. When she spied him make an abrupt movement with his arm, however, her soldier’s training kicked in even before she fully realized what was happening.

Kaidan must have seen what was unfolding as well, because he took a step forward, threatening to block her line of sight from the angry batarian in question. She reached for him in the blink of an eye, pulling a pistol he stowed on his back and firing. Two shots rang out and suddenly it was over as quickly as it had begun.

The batarian dropped to the floor with an ugly head wound, while Shepard froze, pistol-in-hand and arm outstretched. Everyone, including her teammates, stared at her, wide-eyed and shocked. No one dared to move a muscle.

“Anyone else looking to do anything stupid?” There was a harsh edge to Shepard’s tone that brooked no argument.

Another long silence passed as the Commander’s eyes roved over the crowd quickly, simultaneously looking for support and threats to her or her team’s well being. She lowered the gun, waiting in anticipation for any sign that they might give in or begin to fight.

“Well,” the second batarian spoke again at last. He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the fallen comrade nearby. “Now that I’ve apparently been promoted to Captain, I guess we have no choice. I’d rather help our people than rob trade vessels and prey on other survivors. Get off my ship and we’ll contact the military to find out where we’re needed.”

“Fair enough,” Shepard responded. That was about as friendly an answer as she was ever going to receive and she knew it. Returning the pistol to its owner and picking up and stowing her rifle, she nodded to the newly-instated authority on the batarian ship and turned to head back toward their shuttle.

Kaidan and James remained behind for a moment to give her time to retreat safely, but they joined her quickly once she’d returned and taken a seat.

“Lola, I don’t know how you get away with shit like that sometimes,” James commented with a shake of his head as he moved in to stand behind Cortez in the pilot’s seat.

“I can never tell if you know that things are going to be okay or if you just have high hopes,” Kaidan said as he manned the closing door and held on tight as the shuttle pulled away from the batarian ship.

Shepard focused her attention rather intently on her omni-tool as she nodded. She tapped away and sighed at last before responding. “Maybe a little of both.”

Kaidan gave her a hard stare. His brow furrowed as he stepped closer. “Was that medigel?”

She settled back into her seat, letting her arms flop down by her sides for a moment. Only then did he seem to recognize that something had been wrong. She was sure he’d noticed that she was sweating and shaking. Shepard recognized with some amount of pride that she’d hidden her discomfort rather well. She smiled.

“What the hell, Shepard? Why didn’t you say something?” He settled in next to her and helped her remove some of the armor he’d finally realized had taken some damage.

“You think they would have listened if they’d realized I was injured? It’s all about the show, Major,” she playfully responded. She knew the injury wasn’t terrible. Her shields and armor had absorbed most of the impact. Had she actually had a weapon in her hand at that moment, he wouldn’t have had a chance to get a shot in, but she’d taken a gamble.

“Why do you do things like this? I hope you know you’re making me go gray.”

Her grin widened as she gently ran her fingertips along one of his temples, where the silvery strands were just beginning to take hold. She loved it. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Besides, you’re acting like this is the first time I’ve been shot. Come on, Kaidan, I’m not some delicate flower. I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head, wrapping his fingers around the hand that had so reverently appreciated the small signs of his age. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles and allowed his gaze to linger on her face for a moment. “I know. And I’ll have you know that it’s a good thing I love you because I don’t let just anyone touch my gun.”

She grabbed him by the collar of his armor to pull him in for a kiss, smiling against his lips at the dirty thoughts that crossed her mind just then. “Oh, I know.”


End file.
